Rich Lowry: Bloomberg’s folly

If the mayor somehow succeeded in reducing the calories people get through soda, they could always get them another way. In a study called “From Coke to Coors,” Cornell University researchers conducted an experiment “in a small American city where half of the households faced a 10 percent [soda] tax and half did not.” They report that “in beer-purchasing households, this tax led to increased purchases of beer.”

The New York Times related that the mayor’s office is particularly anxious over the fate of the soda ban because the mayor is more and more concerned about his legacy. He shouldn’t worry. His reputation as the nation’s foremost highhanded scold is already well-established.